


Sensory Overload

by vernonsgf



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:38:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9304625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vernonsgf/pseuds/vernonsgf
Summary: "He thinks his heart is going to burst completely out of his chest, but it doesn’t move at all. Noba-dump, ba-dumpin his chest. The sound that he had grown so used to hearing in the background of everything he did that the absence of it is unsettling."Jihoon loves the idea of starting over, he fantasizes about his own new beginning. But it was never as literal as this. Jihoon shouldn't have to sink his teeth into someone's shoulder just to satiate a relentless thirst. He shouldn't have to stop himself from going to see his brother whenever he wants. There are a lot of things that Jihoon shouldn't have to do that he does anyway, and being a vampire is one of them.





	1. New Beginnings

Crash.  
Darkness.  
Silence.

It’s like sensory overload in reverse yet nothing close to sensory deprivation. His inner ear is still functioning, he knows this because he can feel the sway of his body, the consistent thump of steps like he’s being carried, so why can’t he hear anything. His first thought is _oh my god, I’m deaf_ , which is probably the most rational explanation for why he can’t hear, but not for why he can’t see. He can’t be deaf _and blind_ , can he?

Pain.

\-----

When Jihoon rouses again, he can hear. _I’m not deaf. Huh._ The edges of his vision are blurry, and the centre is taken up by a bright light. His throat burns.

“I couldn’t just leave him there. They were all hurt so bad, but he was the worst.”

“Which is exactly why you should have left him. He’ll never forgive you for letting his family die without him.”

The first voice is softer in tone, less harsh around the edges. The second voice demands attention and respect. They’re both too loud. Jihoon likes the first voice better.

As he sits up, light gives way to a large room. The walls covered in a dark burgundy wallpaper that blends almost seamlessly into the dark hardwood floors. His head spins as he takes in his surroundings, vision sharper and clearer than it had ever been. He can hear the dust floating around the room, he can see it on the windowsills. He thinks his heart is going to burst completely out of his chest, but it doesn’t move at all. No _ba-dump, ba-dump_ in his chest. The sound that he had grown so used to hearing in the background of everything he did that the absence of it is unsettling.

“Whoa. Slow down, okay?” The nice voice says.

“Where–“ He almost gags when he feels how wrong the words feel coming from his too dry throat. “Where am I? What happened? Who are you?”

“I’m Soonyoung. You’re in my house.” The nice voice — Soonyoung — says. He beams, his presence a complete contrast to the darkness of the room around him.

“Okay.” Jihoon says. “What happened?”

Soonyoung’s face drops, and Jihoon can hear him gulp, can hear him forcing down the lump in his throat. It’s then that he notices the strange shine of Soonyoung’s irises.

“There was an accident,” Soonyoung starts off slow, watching Jihoon’s reactions as he goes.

Jihoon remembers it. He remembers the blinding flash of light, the sound of tires skidding on the road and the smell of burning rubber. He remembers the airbag that deployed in front of him, so fast and close to his face that he thought that alone would kill him. He remembers hearing his brother screaming in the backseat, his dad slumped over lifeless in the drivers seat, airbag still sitting tightly in the steering wheel. It was too late for him.

“My brother,” Jihoon chokes out. _Chan_.

“He’s safe. In the hospital with your mom.” Soonyoung says.

“I need to see him. Now, I need to go to the hospital now.” Jihoon says, scrambling to his feet and ignoring the dizziness he feels when he does.

Soonyoung shoots up not even a second later, forcing Jihoon back down onto the couch. “You can’t.”

Jihoon’s head fills with rage. “Why not? He’s my brother. He’ll be scared and he’ll be wondering where I am and if I’m okay. He’ll be worried.” He can’t cry. The tears won’t fall from his eyes. It adds to the anger that’s building up inside of him.

“Hey, hey, calm down. Just let me explain. You can let me do that without trying to rip my head off, right?” Soonyoung says. He places a hand on Jihoon’s shoulder and all of a sudden Jihoon’s body is flooded with serenity.

It’s the oddest sensation, to have your feelings and emotions shift so sporadically. To be so easily affected by others. Jihoon wishes he didn’t like Soonyoung’s voice so much.

“In order to save you, I had to do something.” Soonyoung says. “Depending on how you feel about it, I was either in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s up to you. But,”

Soonyoung stops, and Jihoon knows this is where it gets serious. This is where he’s told that he has a life threatening disease that will end up taking him in a matter of a few days, or something of that sort.

“You can’t be around people for a little while. You were dying so fast, I had to give you, uh, something to slow it down. Kind of like snake venom, how it coagulates your blood. Kind of like that.”

“Coagulated blood from snake venom is supposed to kill you.” Jihoon scoffs. He just wants to see Chan.

“Er, right.” Soonyoung says. “That’s the thing…”

——

Jihoon doesn’t know when he comes out of his red-sighted haze of anger and confusion.

“What do you mean I’m dead? That’s not possible, I’m standing right in front of you.” He yells.

“I understand that you’re angry, and you’re probably very confused and shocked right now but please lower your voice. There are other people living in this building.” Soonyoung says.

Jihoon remembers the rougher voice from earlier, when he was still waking up.

_“He’ll never forgive you for letting his family die without him.”_

“So, what then? Am I going to want to eat the brains straight from my kid brother’s head if I go see him? Is that why I can’t be around people?” Jihoon says.

“No, not like that. Though you may be tempted to forgo your brotherly relationship and maul him.” Soonyoung mutters. “And, you know, drink his blood.”

Jihoon bursts out into laughter. He doesn’t know if it’s because he’s nervous or if he genuinely thinks that this is a joke. He tries to stop, tries to focus on the dust that he can still see rolling along the window sill. It doesn’t work.

Soonyoung frowns. “Why are you laughing?” He says.

“I’m sorry,” Jihoon wheezes. “I thought I heard you say I would want to drink my brother’s blood.”

Soonyoung’s frown grows. “Well, not just your brother. Your mom, probably the nurses and the doctors, most likely the rest of the patients in the hospital, too. But not the sick ones. Their blood smells and tastes revolting.”

Jihoon can feel it again, can feel the hotness rising to his face. He can feel his eyes stinging, only to go unrelieved when he can’t feel the tears welling in his eye sockets.

“Why can’t I cry? Tell me why I can’t cry.” He’s shouting. A mixture of upset and frustration. He never thought he would miss something so basic and mundane.

“Uh, you can just not right now.” Soonyoung says. “You’re dehydrated. Your body needs water in it to produce water. I mean, technically you don’t need water ‘cause your cells are frozen — kind of like cells that you look at under a microscope. But, you know,” He trails off.

“Fuck!” Jihoon yells, rubbing his hands furiously over his face. “What did you do to me?”

“I made you like me.” Soonyoung says. He sounds almost guilty for it, and the way that he’s fiddling with his shirt makes Jihoon think that he definitely does feel guilty.

“Why? What does that mean?” Jihoon says. His throat feels dry again, but in a different sense of the word. It’s like there’s something missing inside of him and the dryness in his throat feels almost like a burn.

“Your blood, it was too sweet to avoid. As soon as I smelled you, I was gone. But I stopped and I gave you my blood so that your wounds would heal but you died. I took too much from you and your body couldn’t make more in time. You were bleeding so hard. I’m sorry.”

Soonyoung cries. Jihoon is jealous.

“What did you mean when you said you make me like you? What are you?” Jihoon asks.

Soonyoung shakes his head, wiping at his cheek.

“I’m a vampire.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The members of Seventeen are gradually introduced, starting with Wonwoo.

“He’s your responsibility, Soonyoung. I’m not taking care of him.”

Jihoon hears the words growled out in the hallway.

“Please,” Soonyoung begs. “Just for a little while. I need to go out to get him _food_ before he tries to go out and get it for himself.”

He hears Seungcheol sigh.

“This isn’t a hostel. No, I can’t even say that. At least if it were a hostel we’d be payed a little to house this kid.”

Jihoon sits up. He’s in Soonyoung’s bed with the sheets wrapped tightly around himself. He feels suffocated. He can see Seungcheol and Soonyoung standing just outside of the room, but he can hear them as if they’re standing right beside him.

“Seungcheol,” Soonyoung reaches out and places a hand daintily on his cheek. “Please.”

Seungcheol sighs again, leaning into the touch.

Soonyoung explained it to Jihoon, the intimacy of the relationship between a vampire and their sire. It explains the pang of guilt that Jihoon feels in his gut when he sees the way that Seungcheol looks at Soonyoung, and the way that Soonyoung looks back. Or maybe it’s Soonyoung’s unexplained niceness and overall attractiveness that makes Jihoon feel like he’s missing out. Either way, it’s an awful feeling. Jihoon wants nothing more than to be in Seungcheol’s position, or to be included at the very least.

Jihoon watches Soonyoung from his position on the bed. 154 year old Soonyoung who’s so sweet, and somehow has maintained a childish naivety.

“An hour. Less. I don’t know how patient I’ll be.” Seungcheol gives in.

Soonyoung smiles up at him, bright and fond. Jihoon’s heart clenches in his chest.

“Thank you.” Soonyoung says. He tilts his head back, inviting Seungcheol in for a kiss. The kiss is short, lips brushing over lips, but it feels like an eternity before Soonyoung pulls back.

Seungcheol stays rooted in place as Soonyoung backs into the front room. Jihoon hears the front door being pulled open, watches Seungcheol wave, and then the door is being slammed shut and Seungcheol is turning to Jihoon with fire in his eyes.

He stalks toward Jihoon, anger building up in his chest. He grabs the handle of Soonyoung’s door, slamming it closed with a growl. Jihoon hears the turn of a lock. He scoffs and lets himself fall back down onto the bed.

\-----

Soonyoung comes home exactly 28 minutes later. He can hear the rattling of a doorknob and the telltale whining. Above all, he can smell something overpoweringly sweet that makes his mouth water.

“Seungcheol, why is the door locked?” He hears Soonyoung say.

Seungcheol doesn’t answer, he just throws the keys at Soonyoung and scurries away before he gets the door open.

“Jihoon,” Soonyoung says, closing the door behind himself.

Jihoon groans but he doesn’t move, not even to try and look at Soonyoung. He hears Soonyoung mention something about food, but he just turns over and groans again.

“Gee, if I knew you were going to be this much of a pain to wake up, I would’ve made you sleep on the couch.” Soonyoung says.

Jihoon grunts in response. Soonyoung sighs and kicks off his shoes. He places something down on the table by Jihoon’s head, but Jihoon doesn’t even try to see what it is. He just lets the sweet smell of it invade his nostrils.

“At least make some room.” Soonyoung whines. Jihoon complies, and Soonyoung throws himself onto the bed. The frame creaks under the added weight.

Soonyoung’s arm wraps instinctively around Jihoon’s waist and Jihoon freezes. “Stop,” Soonyoung mumbles. “Lemme cuddle.”

Jihoon isn’t exactly comfortable with this situation, he’s only known Soonyoung for a day and already they’re cuddling in bed, but the venom that runs through his body is Soonyoung’s. It’s like his skin is crawling to be near Soonyoung, and Soonyoung’s arm against his stomach feels so nice.

It takes all of two seconds for Jihoon to come to his senses. He sits up so fast that he sees stars, throwing Soonyoung’s arm away from his body.

“Don’t.” Jihoon says.

“Sorry, I just thought-“

“You thought wrong.”

\-----

Jihoon isn’t used to being so cold. Figuratively and literally. It’s like his mind has shut down completely, he feels numb inside. He feels less like himself every day, like he’s losing parts of himself as his body realizes that his cells are no longer reproducing. He’s stagnant; stuck in time. He’s pretty sure that he’s doomed to an eternity of damaged, too-short, bleached hair. It sucks.

“I don’t think that’s your biggest concern.” Wonwoo says.

Wonwoo is one of Soonyoung’s friends, one of Seungcheol’s offspring, for lack of a better word.

“Being stuck with godawful hair until the world ends isn’t a concern that you’d have?” Jihoon says.

“Jihoon,” Wonwoo starts calmly. Wonwoo does everything calmly. “We’re magic. Not everything about us is going to make sense. Your hair will grow and you’ll have to touch up your roots. Granted, it’ll happen slower than it used to.”

Jihoon sighs. When he doesn’t say anything else, Wonwoo speaks up again.

“Jihoon, I asked you what was on your mind. It’s bigger than your hair problems, it’s obvious. Talk to me.” Wonwoo says.

Jihoon sighs again. “Soonyoung. Soonyoung’s on my mind.” He says.

Wonwoo lets out a soft ‘ah,’ as if he can possibly understand anything that Jihoon’s going through.

“That’s a given. He’s your sire. You think that I’m not constantly thinking about Seungcheol and how sweet he smells? It’s biological, we’re supposed to be attracted and loyal. Jihoon, you can’t let it mean anything more than that. Seungcheol and Soonyoung are mates.” Wonwoo says.

Jihoon can almost taste the sadness and bitterness in Wonwoo’s tone. He catches the glisten of a tear rolling down the pale cheek of his newest friend.

“Oh, Wonwoo.” Jihoon says. He takes Wonwoo by the shoulders and lets him cry into his shirt.

“I was in love with him before he even turned me, you know? We were best friends when we were still humans and I was in love with him.” Wonwoo says, voice shaky as he clutches at Jihoon’s arms.

“This sucks. We are forever and eternally screwed.” Jihoon says.

Wonwoo chuckles at that, a wet chuckle that kind of sounds like a sob.

“I guess we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a lil more short and a lil more sad than I was intending....

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/memeyoozi) for updates on what I'm writing next


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